6 Must-Have Video Games Of All Time

Posted on 17/05/2017 by Farrah Mandeeli

In today’s generation, it’s certain that there are various of great-looking video games out there that feature unique and breathtaking storyline, genius quotations and plot twist endings. With this, if you are looking for the best video games of all time, the ones that let you ride a roller coaster of feels, I’ve got you covered!

Below are some of the must-have video games in your bucket list many of which are western releases that are available for gameplay in PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

Having said that, take a look and let us know which video game you find most interesting:

1. Life Is Strange

Source: GameSpot On Youtube

Life is Strange is an award-winning single-player telltale game that lets the gamer to rewind time and control Max’s (main character) past, present, and future. The gameplay consists of friendship, betrayal, and aspects that you could learn in real life. When playing this game, make sure to ready your tissues, you’ll need it.

2. Walking Dead – Season 1, 2 & 3

Source: ReflKnight On Youtube

The Walking Dead was awarded ‘Game of the Year.’ Its series will leave you speechless time after time, the intense episodic game is truly unlike any other typical zombie games. The gameplay focuses more on the characters emotion and development rather than action, along with problem-solving than combat itself. In addition, it’s the first game from Telltale that uses the Playstation Move—indeed, it’s a must-have video game.

3. Limbo

Source: Playdead on Youtube

If you want a game that challenges your logical problem-solving skills with a touch of dark and depressing aura, Limbo is the right game for you. Limbo is a type of game that leaves you no answer, the storyline is up to you. It’s a puzzle-platform video game that is about afterlife condition in which a boy finds his way out of deathtraps. Even to this day, gamers talk about various self-explained theories behind the story of the game. It’s truly one of the must-have video games of all time.

4. Last of Us

Source: CNET on Youtube

Last of Us is an action shooter game that lets player control a brutal survivor named Joel, with a teenage girl named Ellie who is known to be wise beyond her years. Both of them on their journey to survive across the US.’

5. Witcher 3

Source: PC Games Hardware On Youtube

Witcher 3 is one of the breathtaking action role-playing video game out there. The gameplay is full of impactful consequences and meaningful choices. In the Witcher, you are given various tasks as a professional monster hunter. These tasks involves to explore forgotten caverns, to find a child of prophecy in merchant cities, and so much more. Even after finishing the game, you’ll ask for more.

6. Rocket League

Source: PlayStation On Youtube

Perhaps, you are looking for a truly must-have video games to play with someone. I’ve got you one that is something considered unique, soccer that meets driving. So, if you like cars and soccer, have this on your bucket list. It’s a physics-based sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Definitely, with playing this game, you won’t get tired of trying different strategies, pull-off incredible tactics, and do high-flying technique to score that goal and win against your friends!

30 Most Expensive Video Games Ever Made

Posted on 27/02/2017 by Ehud Riven

Video Games are the biggest entertainment industry in the world, so it’s not surprising to find out that some of the biggest video games made along the years were created with the backing of some massive budgets. In the list of the 30 most expensive video games of all-time, we ranked them by their 2017 adjusted for inflation costs. The list includes games from known series like GTA, Call of Duty and Final Fantasy, but also some surprising standalones, and a couple of games that never made it out of development.

Image via: Epic Games

30. Gears of War – Judgment: The 2013 release of the military sci-fi 1st person shooter cost $62 million when adjusted to 2017 inflation numbers. It was the last Gears of War game to be developed by Epic Games before Microsoft bought the franchise. It sold 1 million copies within the first year of release, and was criticized for its lackluster single-player mode.

Image via: Rift

29. Rift: A MMO released in 2011 by Trion Worlds, which cost somewhere between $64 million to $75 million to make when adjusting to 2017 inflation (Somewhere between $60-70 million in “real time). It is still active today, and won a number of awards upon its release six years ago, earning over $100 million by the time 2012 rolled in.

Image via: GT5

28. Gran Turismo 5: Released in 2010 for the PlayStation 3, GT5 cost $66 million to make in 2017 dollars, and around $60 million originally. To this date it is the best selling PS3-exclusive game, with over 10 million copies sold. It was the first Gran Turismo game to include Super GT, NASCAR and World Rally Championship.

Image via: Official Website

27. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – Future Soldier: A futuristic take on the Ghost Recon franchise that came out in 2012, and cost $65 million at the time, which is $68 million after inflation. There have since been two more games in the Ghost Recon series, Phantoms and Wildlands. The console versions were considered superior to the PC one.

Image via: Official Site

26. Crysis 3: A pretty big failure for EA, Crysis 3 cost $66 million to develop ($68 million adjusted for inflation). Released in 2013, this first person shooter set in the year 2047 sold only 206,000 copies by the first month of release. The most disappointing aspect of the game was its story, and Crytek, who developed the game, focused solely on free-to-play titles after the release.

Image via: Watchdogs

25. Watch Dogs: A highly successful release for Ubisoft back in 2014A, selling over 10 million copies to date and spawning a sequel. However, in terms of critical receptions, Watch Dogs was panned, not that it mattered to those buying the game. It cost $69 million when adjusted for inflation. For many, the third-person shooter in an Open World (Chicago to be exact) environment felt too much like a hacker’s GTA.

Image via: Bungie

24. Halo 3: The 2007 release of Halo cost $60 million to make, which was $69 million when adjusted for inflation. This doesn’t include marketing, which rumors suggest cost around $40 million for Microsoft. The promotion worked, with the game selling over 14 million units to date, making it the best-selling game on the XBox 360 that’s exclusive to the console.

Image via: Final Fantasy 13

23. Final Fantasy XIII: The Square Enix RPG came out in 2010, costing around $65 million to develop, which would be $73 million in today’s money. By 2014, the company announced the game has sold over 11 million units worldwide. Its console versions were highly praised by most outlets, but the PC one received very low marks across the board.

Image via: Gamesport

22. Fable Legends: A massive flop for Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, which shut down after Microsoft announced it won’t be releasing the game. A spin-off to the main series, planned to be a co-op RPG, Legends cost $75 million to develop before the cancellation announcement in 2016.

Image via: Pokemon

21. Pokemon Red/Blue: The first in the main series of Pokemon games, it has to be one of the more influential video games in history, not to mention best selling, both as an RPG and as a GameBoy game. It cost at least $50 in marketing alone, which would put it at $75 million when 2017 inflation adjusted.

Image via: Konami

20. Metal Gear Solid 4 – Guns of the Patriots: Possibly the best game of 2008, MGS4 cost over $70 million to make, which would be $78 million when adjusted for inflation. It is considered by many as one of the most important PS3 games ever (console booster), it made Kojima and Konami very happy, selling over 6 million units.

Image via: mgs5

19. Metal Gear Solid V – The Phantom Pain: Like its predecessor, Metal Gear Solid V has sold over 6 million units, only this game came out in late 2015, costing $81 million to develop when adjusted for inflation. The next story in Snake’s mythology, it was praised for the amount of freedom it gave players when approaching objectives, and the emotional power of its mature themes.

Image via: The Witcher

18. The Witcher 3 – Wild Hunt: CD Projekt RED were cool before Witcher 3, but became huge after it, and deservedly so. One of the best Action role-playing games ever made, it took the work of Andrzej Sapkowski into a whole new stratosphere of popularity through a whole new medium. It has sold around 10 million copies since its 2015 release, costing $82 million to make when adjusted for inflation.

Image via: Trionworlds

17. Defiance: Released in 2013, Defiance is a persistent world MMORPG, which cost $80 million to make, $82 million when adjusted for inflation. It ran alongside the TV show on Syfy until the show’s cancellation. It became a free-to-play game in 2014 and is playable on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Image via: Youtube

16. Enter the Matrix: An incredibly successful game (although not a very good one), the 2003 release was an ambitious effort, which included over one hour of exclusive footage, starring the cast of the film’s trilogy and plot-wise, ran alongside Matrix: Reloaded. It cost $67 million to make at the time, around $87 million when adjusted for inflation.

Image via: Elder Scrolls

15. The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim: Not just a successful game, but almost a cultural phenomenon, as a game released in 2011 is still going strong more than five years later, with mods playing a huge part in its success. According to Bethesda, the game has sold over 30 million copies up to November 16. It cost $85 million to make, which is $90 million when adjusted for inflation.

Image via: Halo Nation

14. Halo MMO: The second Halo game on our list, the MMO is also the second cancelled Microsoft item on our list. There was a beta version tested in Russia, later leaked to the enjoyment of some, but the game was cancelled in 2016. It cost $90 million to make, around $100 million when adjusted for inflation. It is the most expensive game ever not to see the light of day.

Image via: Shenmue

13. Shenmue: A game developed exclusively for Dreamcast, Shenmue is an open world game, the first in a series of four, with the third one coming out in December 2017. The game did sell 1.2 million copies and was mostly praised by critics, but due to its enormous budget ($70 million in 1999, over $101 million in 2017 money), it was considered a massive commercial failure. The new game was only given the green light after a crowdfunding campaign.

Image via: Infinity

12. Disney Infinity:An interesting project by Disney, which is a toys-come-to-life video game, using figurines that synchronized with the game. It was released in 2013, costing $100 million to make, around $103 million when adjusted for inflation. On May 10, 2016, Disney announced on the Disney Interactive website that they were discontinuing production. They sold over 3 million starter packs before cancellation announcement.

Image via: Steam

11. Deadpool: Way before the cool Ryan Reynold movie, there was the Deadpool game by Activision, later seeing the license removed, before the game was re-released to coincide with the film’s release. The game didn’t do very well, received terrible reviews, and cost over $100 million to make heading into its 2013 release, over $104 million in today’s money.

Image via: Rockstar

10. Max Payne 3: Released 9 years after the previous game in the series, Max Payne 3 cost Rockstar $105 million to make (came out in 2012), over $110 million when adjusted for inflation. Receiving raving reviews for its story and action, the game sold over 4 million copies within a year of its release.

Image via: Rockstar

9. Red Dead Redemption: In my opinion, along with Witcher 3, this is the best game ever made. This Open World ode to the Wild West in its dying days, RDD was a massive hit for Rockstar, selling over 15 million copies, and a sequel is scheduled for release in 2017. It cost anywhere between $80 million and $100 million to make, which puts it at $110 million when adjusted for inflation. The game was released in 2010.

Image via: Gamerfirst

8. APB: An open world online game that was developed by Realtime Worlds, later acquired by K2, changing the 2010 release into a free-to-play game, also renaming it to APB: Reloaded. It cost $100 million to make, $110 million when adjusted for inflation. When the game was released it generated plenty of negative buzz due to the review embargo placed.

Image via: Too Human

7. Too Human: This futuristic retelling of Norse mythology was released in 2008 by Microsoft, after years in development hell, originally planned for release in 1999 by Sony. The game sold close to one million copies, but didn’t become the trilogy Silicon Knights were planning for it down the road.

Image via: Rockstar

6. GTA IV: A massive hit for Rockstar, who returned to New York, AKA Liberty City in their 2008 release that cost around $100 million to make at the time, which is about $111 million when adjusted for inflation. The story of Niko Bellic was highly praised almost across the board, broke several sales records at the time, and sold over 25 million units as of the summer of 2013.

Image via: Destiny

5. Destiny: The online-only 1st-person shooter by Bungie won a number of ‘Game of the Year’ awards following its 2014 release, and at its peak had 25 million players. One of two Activision-published games in the top 5, it cost an estimated $140 million to make; $142 million when adjusted for inflation.

Image via: swtor

4. Star Wars – The Old Republic: The most expensive MMORPG on our list, the game was developed by BioWare and published by EA in 2011. It was a pay-only game initially, but turned into free-to-play a year later. It had close to 2 million subscribers at its peak, and its latest expansion pack came out in late 2016. It cost over $200 million to make, adjusted for $213 million in 2017 money.

Image via: Square Enix

3. Final Fantasy VII: The 1997 edition of this epic RPG series, it cost $145 million overall, including $100 million in its massive marketing bill. In today’s money, it is $216 million. As of December 2016, the game has sold over 11 million units. Surprisingly, 1.1 million have come through Steam, considering how late it came to that platform.

Image via: Rockstar

2. GTA V: The latest Grand Theft Auto release by Rockstar. Also its most expensive one, costing $265 million in total (about 50% going to marketing). Released in 2013, it is about $272 million when adjusted for inflation. As for sales, it blew previous Rockstar games out of the water, so far selling over 75 million copies worldwide. The game featured 3 protagonists, and took place in Los Santos, making a return to the California-like city, previously visiting it in San Andreas.

Image via: call of duty

1. Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2: Activision’s 1st person shooter (developed by Infinity Ward) is the most expensive video game ever made, costing $250 million before its 2009 release, out of it comes a $200 million bill for marketing. In today’s money, that’s a total of $279 million. The game sold 4.7 million units within 24 hours, and as of late 2013, it has shipped over 22.7 million units worldwide.The game received incredible reviews, especially for its console versions.

37 Images of the Most Important Video Games Ever Made

Posted on 06/01/2017 by Ehud Riven

Video games date back to the 1960s, but Pong (1972) was the first big breakthrough. Since then, every few years (or a few times in a year) comes along a title that redefines gaming or a specific genre. This is the story of the most important video games ever made, told through 37 images.

Space Invaders, 1978: A game that is as simple as it gets. A 2D shooter with a ship firing a laser at descending aliens. The initial release was in black & white, later receiving a color treatment. It helped the video game industry deviate to the action-genre after the less fantastical pong-like games in the 70’s.

Pac-Man, 1980: Another arcade game, this time launching the maze genre, becoming one of the biggest pop culture icons of the 1980s, and is credited for opening the world to new video game ideas, even such as GTA and sandbox games.

Donkey Kong, 1981: Donkey Kong is important in two major ways. It was the basis for the Super Mario Bros. series, which we all know is incredibly popular, and was the first successful platformer. In a way, we wouldn’t have Uncharted without Donkey Kong.

Tetris, 1984: The most successful video game of all-time (probably, no one can be 100% sure of these things), Tetris introduced the puzzle genre in a simple yet addictive way, that’s still going strong over 30 years since it first made the way across the Atlantic from the USSR to the USA.

Super Mario Bros., 1985: Donkey Kong was the first taste of the character, but the first Super Mario Bros. game probably saved the video game industry during the 1980s in the United States, launched an incredibly successful franchise and took the side scrolling platformer into a whole new stratosphere.

The Legend of Zelda, 1986: Originally known as The Hyrule Fantasy, it wasn’t the first action-adventure game, but it was one the world has never seen, setting the groundwork for the modern RPGs.

Out Run, 1986: Racing or Driving game (big argument at the time), Out Run stood out thanks to its graphics, nonlinear play and themes of luxury and style, which weren’t really part of gaming up to that point.

Double Dragon, 1987: Not the first beat-em-up to hit the market, but the one that made the genre extremely popular, so popular it got an animated series and a live action film adaptation (a terrible one), which wasn’t such a common thing over 20 years ago.

Tecmo Bowl, 1987: The first really good sports game, only it became a hit two years later on the NES. Of all the things Tecmo Bowl is famous for, including finally making a good NFL game, is the dominance of Bo Jackson in comparison to everyone else.

Street Fighter II, 1991: Probably the most important fighting game of all-time, and not because of the Van Damme movie. SF2 introduced a joystick and button scanning routine that was never seen before, and resulted in almost every company trying to build a franchise of their own.

Sonic the Hedgehog, 1991: Sonic was a hit thanks to a combination of graphics, music and gameplay, establishing the Genesis as a player in the 16-bit market of the early 1990’s, and making rival companies to SEGA try to come up with an animal mascot of their own.

Final Fantasy IV: A landmark game, not just in the history of the series, but RPG games in general, with character driven plot and the famous active time battle system.

Doom, 1993: Doom wasn’t the first 1st person shooter, but it changed the genre in its horror/sci-fi approach, with violence, 3D graphics and overall gameplay unseen before. It didn’t just help popularize the genre, but also helped create the gaming subculture, which has grown immensely since.

Resident Evil, 1996: Like Doom did for 1st person shooters, Resident Evil did the same for the Survival horror genre, only with a much more successful franchising into film and, well, every possible media branch.

Tomb Raider, 1996: Tomb Raider took the Action-Adventure genre to a whole new level, but maybe it’s most important contribution to gaming was the female protagonist. Not unheard of before, but oh so rare, especially when it came to success, sequels.

Pokemon Red and Blue, 1998: Pokemon didn’t do anything new, it just did in a cooler, better way than anyone else. This game came out on the Game Boy, and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history

Starcraft, 1998: Starcraft might be the most important game in the second half of the 1990s. Not just because of what it did to strategy gaming and especially real-time strategy, but its place in the popularizing of e-sports, first in South Korea and later all over the world.

Counter Strike, 2000: Originally known as Half-Life: Counter Strike, this game helped make the team vs team FPS games popular, and in this case, controversially having a playable terrorist team.

Super Smash Bros: Melee, 2001: The game showed how to do a “Royal Rumble” in video games the right way, with a unique damage counter system, and the crossover of most Nintendo characters into one action packed fiesta, still influential today.

Silent Hill 2, 2001: As far as survival horror games go, few do the job of Silent Hill 2 in terms of puzzle solving but mostly psychological effect it has on the protagonist and the player, even 15 years later.

Grand Theft Auto 3, 2001: GTA games already made an impact in the years before, but III introduced it in 3D, which meant the nihilistic approach only got better, bigger and clearer, growing with each game in the series.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, 2003: This is still the best Star Wars game ever made in my opinion, giving the franchise a much needed RPG twist after going Simulator and action in previous installments, with storytelling and world/galaxy building that is still one of the best ever made.

Half-Life 2, 2004: Unlike other game on this list, the speciality of Half-Life 2 isn’t in introducing something new to the world, but by setting a higher standard of narrative, physics, A.I. and animation. Still no sequel though.

GTA San Andreas, 2004: Maybe THE game of 6th generation console gaming, San Andreas delivered a whole new scope and style of storytelling, while moving GTA into a more RPG like experience, with leisure and style just as important as advancing the gameplay.

World of Warcraft, 2005: World of Warcraft took a very successful franchise and turned it on its head, birthing the new age of MMORPG, with user interactions within the confines of the world sometimes more exciting to explore than the game and story itself.

Shadow of Colossus, 2005: A Puzzle-Action-Adventure game in my opinion, without any dungeons or towns and NPCs. Simply the protagonist, his journey and the bosses he has to figure out how to kill, in a game that’s a perfect example of how this industry can produce art, not just entertainment.

BioShock, 2007: A first person shooter that’s so much more, with unique environments, morality-system and a variety of ways to engage enemies, BioShock borrowed from many other genres to create one-of-a-kind game that broke the mold of how 1st person shooters should be made.

Portal, 2007: Despite being a short game and limited in story scope, Portal remains something different in the industry: A puzzle game that relies on physics and original thinking, with a dark story behind it and plenty of humor in its dialogue, a combination rarely seen.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – COD4 MW didn’t change first person shooters, and didn’t bring in something new. But some games are so successful and good it’s hard to ignore. Setting incredible standards in gameplay, graphics and storyline stand out, even with so many games in this specific series it’s easy to confuse one with another.

Fallout 3, 2008: Fallout 3 made the jump for the series into the first person view and not the previous graphics system. It displayed a whole new combat system and set a new bar for how a cruel, post-apocalyptic world should be portrayed in a video game.

Mass Effect 2, 2010: An Action-RPG that combines the 3rd-person shooter aspects extremely well, with incredible music, amazing characterization and an exceptional choice-system, that might be the best interactive storytelling in video game ever made, maybe to this day.

Dark Souls, 2011: The first in the series (three main games and a number of spin-offs so far) introduced an action RPG that focuses on making gameplay incredibly difficult, with enemies surprising you at every turn, along with intricate world design and lore. Dark Souls stands out in RPGs of recent years by focusing on making life difficult for the player, instead of guiding him along the storyline until the very end.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, 2011: Five years after its release, Skyrim is still being played and is among the most popular games worldwide. Why? Maybe because of the mods, maybe the incredible addition to the world built over the years by Bethesda. It stands out in its character development and setting.

Minecraft, 2011: Minecraft, to me, is the video game example of how the world and especially the web has moved onto user-based content. The players play the game to build a world, or see the worlds other players have built, and either observe or participate, in a unique gaming experience that is extremely popular and yet isn’t for everyone.

The Last of Us, 2013: The bad thing about The Last of Us is that it’s a PS only game. Other than that? Perfection. It takes the survival-action game with zombies and takes it into a whole new direction, thanks to an incredibly storyline, subtle subtext, deep characters and does a great job of not falling into cliches of human behavior and especially its female protagonist.

Grand Theft Auto V, 2013: The latest installment in the GTA series brought us back to LA. Only bigger, more violent, prettier, and a lot more cynical. What did it change? In a way, it was a critique of vanity and a superficial, emotionless existence, and how we’ve all become numb to certain things in our world, as ludicrous as they may be.

The Witcher 3, 2015: The Witcher 3 is another game that doesn’t invent anything, but simply did things better than everyone else. It completely blew the two previous games in the series out of the water. It provided an incredible conclusion to a terrific book series. The narrative, the depth of sidequests, the world and setting, the combat system and the choice-system that results in quite a few ending possibilities. Hopefully it’s not the last time we see Geralt. Final chapter or not, it could be the best RPG ever made.